Fight Club

[Guest]

(I wasn't sure where to post this, so I'm just gonna leave it here)

What do you guys think of the book/movie?

 

Edited February 25, 2016 by tropicana

[David1]

I didn't read the book, but the movie is awesome.

[Guest]

What I meant was:

do you think the theme resonates with "ours" here, on this forum?

it is generally described as a book/movie about a person with multiple personality disorder but I feel it's deeper than just that. Maybe the narrator (the main character) is representation of an ego and Tyler is representation of the true self or something like that. And in the end the ego wins the fight.

lots of things said by Tyler relate to the topic of enlightenment. I watched the movie around 6 years ago and only now, after Leo has opened my eyes, I understand what Tyler's words actually mean. There are also little details that pop up constantly and which are very profound, in my opinion. 

 

So I wanna know if you guys think like me or maybe you have reasons to think that the book/movie is stupid and the author is lost in his own fantasies ?

Edited February 25, 2016 by tropicana

[vizual]

Some more quotes from the book:

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.” 

“The things you used to own, now they own you.” 

“I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.” 

“Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer, maybe self-destruction is the answer.” 

“Everyone smiles with that invisible gun to their head.” 

“We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens.” 

 

I don't know if this book tries to make a case for people seeking enlightenment or it's just a nihilistic ego trip. I'm leaning toward the latter. There are definitely things that can make people look at their lives a different way, but it's a very bleak and dark way. Enlightenment ain't all sunshine and rainbows but it ain't dark or condemning as well.

[Godex]

Sorry, I somehow missed this thread when it came out, hope digging up an old thread like this isn't a punishable offence.

Here's a link for hardcore fans of the movie: http://www.jackdurden.com/

I used to be obsessed with this movie. The book and movie are actually quite different, the movie is an adaption. It isn't exactly clear if Jack's illness is MPD or Schizophrenia from the movie, but in the director's commentary they call Tyler Jack's schizophrenic partner. 

The scariest experience of my life was finding out I'm insane, in a very similar way Jack does in the movie(I had seen the movie already at least 10 times at that point). A bunch of crazy stuff happened to me. Now I didn't hallucinate my "partner", IDK how that would even work IRL without it being apparent very quickly that you're ill, we had a relationship more covert than that. The movie was a big inspiration for him, but his philosophy is different than that of Tyler in the movie. Also the movie, imo, is not meant to stand for exactly the things Tyler stands for. 

 

[Richard Alpert]

I have watched fight club maybe 30 times, lol. My favorite movie, Read the book once.

Tyler Durden is pretty enlightened guy.

[Emerald]

On 2/24/2016 at 10:36 PM, Guest said:

What I meant was:

do you think the theme resonates with "ours" here, on this forum?

it is generally described as a book/movie about a person with multiple personality disorder but I feel it's deeper than just that. Maybe the narrator (the main character) is representation of an ego and Tyler is representation of the true self or something like that. And in the end the ego wins the fight.

lots of things said by Tyler relate to the topic of enlightenment. I watched the movie around 6 years ago and only now, after Leo has opened my eyes, I understand what Tyler's words actually mean. There are also little details that pop up constantly and which are very profound, in my opinion. 

 

So I wanna know if you guys think like me or maybe you have reasons to think that the book/movie is stupid and the author is lost in his own fantasies ?

I don't think Tyler represents the true self. Essentially, the story of fight club is the story of an average man who is trapped in the social system of modern America with all its accoutrements (IKEA furniture, luxury aparment, sofa, etc.). His only outlet of escape from the social system was going to the support meetings where he found vulnerable people of whom many were on the verge of death and thus able to slough off the falsity of the social system from which he felt so imprisoned. Then Marla showed up and ruined that. This caused him to create a projection/delusion of his Shadow (Tyler represents the Shadow) to come up, which brought him into a new exciting way of being and they together created a new social system, that the main character initially saw as an improvement on the old. It was more free, more primal, and less pretentious. But after the honeymoon was over, he was once again trapped in the social system which he and Tyler created. He was just as much, if not more trapped by that social system. So, I see fight club as a cautionary tale about buying into social systems or anti-social systems. Also, it has a good correlation to the spiritual ego. You think you're improving but you're not. The internal must change... the external doesn't matter that much. The main character created the new system to feel free, yet freedom was not found in the new system. The change had to occur within. As for the last part of the movie, I'm not sure if the main character realized this or not. It's debatable.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Emerald Wilkins

[Richard Alpert]

47 minutes ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

I don't think Tyler represents the true self. Essentially, the story of fight club is the story of an average man who is trapped in the social system of modern America with all its accoutrements (IKEA furniture, luxury aparment, sofa, etc.). His only outlet of escape from the social system was going to the support meetings where he found vulnerable people of whom many were on the verge of death and thus able to slough off the falsity of the social system from which he felt so imprisoned. Then Marla showed up and ruined that. This caused him to create a projection/delusion of his Shadow (Tyler represents the Shadow) to come up, which brought him into a new exciting way of being and they together created a new social system, that the main character initially saw as an improvement on the old. It was more free, more primal, and less pretentious. But after the honeymoon was over, he was once again trapped in the social system which he and Tyler created. He was just as much, if not more trapped by that social system. So, I see fight club as a cautionary tale about buying into social systems or anti-social systems. Also, it has a good correlation to the spiritual ego. You think you're improving but you're not. The internal must change... the external doesn't matter that much. The main character created the new system to feel free, yet freedom was not found in the new system. The change had to occur within. As for the last part of the movie, I'm not sure if the main character realized this or not. It's debatable.

intresting view and good explanation.

[Richard Alpert]